Invasion Of Chaos
by MetalKing1417
Summary: With their eternal cycle of purges to prevent synthetic uprisings, the Reapers have been unknowingly protecting the galaxy from a far greater threat. Now that threat is posed to invade and the universe will never be the same again.
1. Prelude

Sadly, I own neither Warhammer 40k, nor Mass Effect. They belong to Games Workshop, and Bioware, respectively.

* * *

Balnaor the Defiler, champion and servant of Slaanesh was rather infuriated with the long wait his host had given him. This host, Dark Apostle Marcion of the Word Bearers had called him forth with promises of bringing favor to him from the Ruinous powers such that joining one of Chaos War Master Abbadon's Black Crusades would pale in comparison and the granting of a single desire from the at the behest of the dark gods should Balnaor succeed.

Finally, the lights came on and revealed the presence of three of Balnaor's soon to be greatest rivals.

Unknownst to him and apparently everyone else in the room not under the direct service of the Dark Apostle, Marcion had also invited 3 other lords of chaos, each affiliated with a different member of the vile pantheon. For Khorne it was a man known as Abel the kinslayer, who had murdered his brother Cain in cold blood; For Tzeentch, Gehenna, Master of the Mad, stood as their representative; and finally for Grandfather Nurgle, the ironically named Byron the Majestic.

"Treachery!" Bellowed Abel as he and the rest of the Chaos lords moved to dispatch their rivals when out of the blue the seemingly impossible happened…

Daemons poured out into the room with the intention of stopping the conflagration between these mortal foes. These ranged from mere Nurglings and Daemonettes to the servants of Khorne, but the last of those mentioned were the ones that actually gave the conflict pause. If Marcion had managed to convert these servants of the Blood God to the role of peacekeepers in his service, then the promise of the killing to come was to come must be truly magnificent compared to the impending slaughter of the now.

Suddenly a cold laughter filled the room. The Daemons that were one used to hold back the occupants from killing each turned black and every shadow in the room shifted as if to merge into one. Then, one by one, the various mortal servants apparently under Marcion's employ each began to have their flesh boil over until they exploded into a mess of gore from which the constituent mess of flesh, bone, blood, and metal swirled throughout the room. These various ingredients were then used to first forge a great feast and the table and chairs that held them. But they were not finished there- finally, the shower of mess of innards moved to where the shadows had merged to form their host, the Dark Apostle Marcion himself, cackling and clapping to himself with glee.

The spectacle was such that Balnaor and apparently Gehenna were green with envy.

"Gentlemen," the man said with an aura of glee, "I am glad you all came. I welcome you as participants of my Great Game as to you, your game master."

It was to this Balnaor finally spoken and in doing so said, "Great Game? You speak of the eternal conflict within chaos."

"Indeed." Stated Marcion "And in veneration of the Dark gods, I intend to recreate it on a much smaller scale with each of you as their representatives. In this game you will each compete to see how many worlds you can rot in the allotted time."

In a moment of surprising insight for a Khornite, Abel was the first to speak the sentiments of the group, "And what is to say that you are just using this to eliminate us one by one or elevate yourself to daemonhood at our expense? And why did your pet daemons move to stop our conflict?"

Marcion responded by saying, "I have long prepared for this day and to many sacrifices have been made to blow it all on the elimination of four mere rivals. Should this plan be successful, I intend to reenact this plot indefinitely. Furthermore, I would rather not have to go through the process of finding a new champion for one of the dark gods before my game has even started."

"So then, Apostle, show us which imperial sector the game shall be played so my sorcerers can bring us there," stated Gehenna.

"Your sorcerers? Your sorcerers will bring you to the sector successfully and conveniently lose us in transit, leaving you as the game's sole participant, and as such winner," Stated Abel, once again showing intellect belying his status as a follower of Khorne.

"Are you sure you're a follower of Khorne, Abel?" asked Balnaor, "None of the other champions of Khorne I have previously met have ever shown the intelligence you have just displayed."

Abel licked his lips before growling out a counter jab,"Ah, Champion of Slaanesh, Khorne will indeed reward me well when I present the skull of a campaigner of his arch foe. As for my intellect, how is it you, as a slave to the prince of pleasure last 5 minutes while not molesting a Grox?"

Laughter filled the room in response.

"Hmmm…." Mumbled the Champion of Slaanesh, "Never thought about doing it with a Grox before, I'll put that one on my checklist, right after I finish doing so with a Squig."

More laughter filled the room.

"Hohoho," Laughed Marcion, "Good show there. But Abel has a point- I would not trust the sorcerers in the bondage of any of my game's participants to not be biased towards their masters. Furthermore, none of the sorcerers under the employ of any of you would be able to get you to where my contest will take place, for it will not be in the Materium you are used to."

It took a few moments for any of the lords of chaos to grasp the full weight of what Marcion just said.

"This materium? Hmmm… so it is true. I have heard tales and seen evidence that the warp is connected not just this materium, but countless others. However, until now there has been no definite proof, as those who go to those materiums do not return." Spoke Byron for the first time since he arrived.

"Indeed," Spoke the dark apostle, "I have made many sacrifices to make this possible, to make a breach in the warp consistent enough that one could move from Materium to Materium with relative ease, up to the point that I could have become a daemon prince several times over, but instead I stuck to my dream, which has only now began to bear its glorious fruit. To this I present to you a world, no a galaxy that has been, up to now unpolluted by the glorious touch of chaos, which is now yours to play with. Now then, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

To that declaration, rapturous applause filled the room.

* * *

It is said that a dead god can dream.

However, there are some things a god would not wish to dream, nightmares, not even these greatest of minds wish to think about, let alone a mere mortal.

Nazara had such a dream, and it spoke volumes about it when that one dream alone had dredged up emotions it thought long forgotten when the many constituent fleshes that made him (it?) merged to become a single steel. An emotion that reverberated straight through the entire Reaper fleet.

And what was this emotion? Was it fear?

No.

It was pure, unadulterated terror.

A terror invoked by a word long misinterpreted and only barely kept at bay by their continuous cycles, with them none the wiser. A word which entire battle fleets fought for and against this word whose scale dwarfed their kind, both in number and size. Five symbols were made for this word, four of which symbolized the parts of the greater whole that the last represented- an eight spoked wheel with arrows all pointing outward.

But what was this word, and what could it mean if it brought the fearless ships that had ordered the galaxy a thousand times to the brink of gibbering horror?

After all, it was a mere word?

Chaos.

Let the galaxy burn.


	2. Before the storm

Sadly, I own neither Warhammer 40k, nor Mass Effect. They belong to Games Workshop, and Bioware, respectively.

* * *

From the start of the day, before he had even woke up, Shepard had this feeling. It was not a good feeling and he had only had it a few times in his life, each time occurring on the same day something significant, and absolutely terrible had happened to him. The first time he had it was the day he had lost his entire family on Mindoir, the second, he had lost his entire crew in a run-in with a Thresher Maw, and the third occurred on the day of the simultaneous attack on four turian Primarch by the cults. Thankfully, he had managed to save one of them, Sparatus, who went on to become the current turian councilor.

This time however was different. Not once had this feeling hit him to such a degree. It filled him with such absolute dread that not even the loss of his entire family and all his friends could compare. The nightmare he had just before he awoke only compounded this horrific feeling that he had before awakening. Whatever it was, what will happen today, will more than likely change his life in such a way nothing will ever be the same again, and probably not a good way.

Now however, was not a time to despair around and do nothing. Today was going to be an important day, regardless of what happened, and whatever this feeling told him what was going to happen, he was going to face it head on.

* * *

Balnaor the Defiler prepared himself. Bellow him was Eden Prime, a human world oddly enough, where he would first make his true presence known to the galaxy. He had spread his pleasure cults across the galaxy, spreading the word of Slaanesh, the prince of pleasure with great success; in fact more success than he ever anticipated. One of the cults under his command had even managed to bring down one of this galaxy's central governments, the Batarian Hegemony, into a state of all out civil war. It was all too bad that his assassin had failed to kill that turian leader.

"Primarch ha," he spat as he entered the transport.

* * *

Thomas Shepard watched as the ship he was on, the newly christened prototype known as the SSV Normandy moved towards the tuning fork shaped object known as a mass relay. Supposedly gifted to the galaxy by the long extinct precursor race known as the protheans, these structures were responsible for galactic civilization as we knew it. It was a beautiful sight of course, but there were the unsubstantiated rumors of course that looking at the monolithic artifacts for too long would cause madness. Frankly, he didn't believe them.

When the Relay made that signature spark towards the approaching ship signaling the oncoming jump, he knew that was his cue to start moving towards the front of the ship where the pilot was.

When he got there, he noticed the pilot (Joker) and co-pilot (Kaidan Alenko) arguing as a certain special Turian guest left.

"Can it you two ner-do-wells," Shepard oh so elegantly stated.

"Ooooh touchy," replied Joker mockingly.

"Joker, status report," commanded David Anderson from the speaker.

"Just cleared the mass relay Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid." Stated the pilot.

"Good," Stated the Captain, "Find a com buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, aye, Captain," replied the pilot, "Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, lieutenant," said the voice as if it were old news, delivered by a lazy mule; causing the pilot and co-pilot to shake their heads in response. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the Comm room for a debriefing."

"You get that Commander?" asked Joker.

Yes was the sole word Shepard emitted from his mouth in response before proceeding to his new destination. On his way there, he noticed that the navigator, Pressly, Corporal Jenkins and Doctor Chakwas engaged in conversation about the current state of the mission. Knowing the feeling he had ever since waking up, he figured that if the crew also had concerns, then something big was up, even if what the crew was worrying about and whatever was the source of his concern were two different things. Knowledge is power after all.

Noticing him approaching, Pressly saluted and said, "Congratulations, Commander. Looks like we had a smooth run. You are heading down to see the Captain?"

"Indeed." Replied Shepard, "I'm on my way there to give him a status report right now."

"So what do you think commander?" Eagerly asked Jenkins, "We won't be on Eden Prime too long? I'm itching for some real action."

"I sincerely hope you're kidding Corporal," Responded the doctor while Pressly shook his head, "Your 'Real Action' usually ends with me patching someone up in the infirmary."

"Right," Stated Shepard, already preparing for the headaches Jenkins would likely be the source of if there was going to be an emergency. Miles Glorious like him were always like that. "Just treat this like any other mission and it will be fine."

"Easy for you to say," countered the overly eager Jenkins, "You proved yourself there back on Akuze and against the Primarch assassin. Everybody knows what you can do. This is MY big chance! And with David Anderson and a Spectre as my witnesses, I can really show the brass what I can do."

Giving a nice stern look towards Jenkins, Pressly turned to Shepard and stated, "And with all due respect, sir, maybe Anderson will finally tell you what we're really doing out here."

"You think the Alliance brass is holding out on us?" Shepard asked.

"If all we're supposed to do is test out the stealth systems, why is Captain Anderson in charge? And then there's Nihlus. Spectres are elite operatives. Top covert agents. Why send a Spectre—a turian Spectre—on a shakedown run? It doesn't add up," asked Pressly, making his case. "Let's also not forget that we brought along a full crew when a mere skeleton would be cheaper and have a lower risk of leaks."

"Bah, you are just too darn paranoid Pressley," refuted Chakwas. "You really think that the alliance will allow the prototype that they spent enough on to buy a dreadnaught to be tested with anything less than a full crew?"

"Spectres are the best of the best, they're always on a mission and serve as the right hand of the council to protect everyone against any possible threats and do so at any cost. I once heard that Nihlus took down an entire platoon by himself," stated Jenkins, "And as for Anderson, I heard that he has so many medals, if you melted them all down, you could make a life sized statue of him."

"So basically, we have two of the ultra-elite on a do nothing mission, and we are paying for a full crew when it would be more than likely better not to," observed Shepard. "Ok, what about Eden Prime?"

"Not much, though from what I have heard, Eden Prime is apparently the premiere military space for the Systems alliance aside from Earth," stated Pressly.

"Eden Prime? I was raised there." Stated Jenkins, "It's beautiful and peaceful. Kind of boring too after a while. A good place for a shakedown run I guess. Is there anything else you need?"

"Not right now," replied Shepard, as he prepared to move towards the comm room.

When he got there, he noticed Nihlus was there instead of Anderson. Noticing Shepard, the turian turned around and extended his hand as a human would for a handshake. Shepard in response, extended his to complete the shake.

"Commander Shepard, I was hoping you would get here first," stated the Turian, "It will give us a chance to talk."

"What would you like to talk about?" Asked Shepard.

"I'm Interested in this world we're going to, Eden Prime. I've heard it's real beautiful," replied Nihlus.

"If you wanted to ask about that planet's beauty, look for Jenkins. I wouldn't know," Responded Shepard, "Though my guess is that there's more to this 'Shakedown run' than sightseeing, right Nihlus."

"Indeed. Eden prime is a symbol of your people. A perfect little world at the edges of your territory. Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it really," Stated the Spectre in an all too threatening way.

"Is there something there that has alerted the Council like the cults?" Asked Shepard.

"Yes and no. But first an observation. Your people are still newcomers, Shepard. And as you have no doubt seen, the galaxy can be a very dangerous place," Stated Nihlus, "Is the Alliance truly ready for this? Are you ready for this?"

As if on cue, Captain Anderson entered the room and said, "I think it is about time we told the commander what is really going on."

"This mission is more than a simple shakedown run," stated Nihlus.

"I thought so. Well, me and the whole rest of the crew," replied Shepard.

"We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we had to have the stealth systems operational," stated Anderson.

"Hmmm… What are we picking up that could be worth this much secrecy?" Said Shepard thoughtfully, before immediately coming up with the obvious answer. "Let me guess, It's prothean."

"Indeed. The alliance uncovered some sort of prothean 'beacon' on Eden Prime during the excavation. A remnant of their civilization which disappeared 50000 years ago, leaving our races with their legacy," said Anderson before continuing on. "The Mass Relays, the citadel, and our ship drives are all descended from such things. The last time humanity found something like this our technology jumped forward several hundred years. Eden prime doesn't however, have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study."

"Why don't we simply destroy it?" asked Shepard, "It would save us the trouble, and quite frankly, I think that we've been too reliant upon their technology."

Both Anderson and Nihlus gave an identical response: two completely blank stares that gave the impression of someone who just watched a raving lunatic jump into the ocean wearing cement shoes. Breaking the silence was Nihlus, who decided to change the subject to something a little different, "The beacon is not all I'm here for though. I'm also interested in you. And that little outburst was most interesting."

"The Alliance has been pushing this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in interstellar policy and more say in the Citadel Council," stated Anderson, making his case. He then made a pounding motion with his hands before continuing. "The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come."

"You are rather famous Shepard. The skill you showed on Akuze was one thing, saving a Primarch and the current turian councilor is another. A lot of people are seeing you as the perfect candidate for the human race's first Spectre. However…" Nihlus paused, "Lately the image of the Spectres has become… tarnished. In the last twenty years, more Spectres have gone rouge than any time prior. Their suicide rate is also up. Tela Vasir, for example went on a killing spree for and was discovered to have been compromised by the Shadow Broker. I watched my own mentor; Saren Arterius go stark raving mad, spouting things that would get him a lawsuit from H.P. Lovecraft's estate were he alive before he put a bullet in his own brain. Do you think you are ready for the sorts of things that caused these, Shepard?"

Nihlus looked Shepard in the eye while the human formulated his answer. Shepard's reply was simple, "We'll soon know."

"We'll soon will too," Nihlus replied, "Eden prime will be the first of several missions together."

"You'll be in charge of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it onto the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission," said Anderson.

"Just give the word Captain," replied Shepard.

"We should be getting close to Eden—," began Anderson, before being interrupted by Joker.

"Captain! We've got a problem."

***Codex entry: The Cults***

The Cults, are a set of four mysterious religions that have gained prominence around 30 years ago- about the same time humanity entered the galactic stage, a fact that has caused many to point to the fledgling species as responsible for their existence, despite much evidence to the contrary (Humans in fact statistically the fewest members of their species that are part of the cults). Claiming to worship the "four true gods of the world", each of the cults venerates one above all the others. These gods are Khorne, God of war and blood; Slaanesh, Prince of pleasure; Nurgle, Grandfather of disease and decay; and Tzeentch, the changer of ways.

The cults have been a point of contention in recent times. While many point to the right to freedom of religion in council space, others say they are a danger to the masses of the galaxy. The turians, in particular have a particular hatred for the cults, having lost the lives of no less than three Primarchs to assassins of cultist origin and would have lost a fourth had not the human Shepard's timely intervention.

* * *

And now, at long last, chapter 2 is complete.

Before anyone asks, no, the Emperor does not exist in the Mass Effect verse. And no, no loyalist chapters/warhammer xenos will be appearing. This fic is devoted to the followers of the ruinous powers and their reign of terror upon the Mass Effect galaxy.


	3. Eden Prime: Part 1

Sadly, I own neither Warhammer 40k, nor Mass Effect. They belong to Games Workshop, and Bioware, respectively.

* * *

The general atmosphere of the room could be best described in two words: Stunned Silence.

The two Humans and the Turian Spectre watched mutely as a soldier pushed down the cameraman while fighting an unseen adversary. This caused the camera to pan upward, towards the sky before cutting off. Trying to make sense of what he saw, Anderson ordered Joker to hold at a particular frame.

The scene before them depicted what were apparently ships orbiting the planet. No, ships would be an inadequate word for these behemoths. Visible from the ground, these monstrosities probably made the largest dreadnaught in Citadel space look positively puny. Just one of them could probably have swatted away the defenses of Eden Prime with contemptuous ease, but here of all places was an entire fleet of the things out in the upper atmosphere of Eden Prime. Shepard didn't even want to think about the colossal amount of damage that would be done if one of those vessels turned their weapons upon the planet or what would happen if one of those vessels crashed into the world.

"It looks like this mission just got a little more complicated," Said Anderson, making the understatement of the century.

* * *

"My lord, someone has entered the system"

"What? Then have it destroyed as soon as possible!"

"Belay that order, Morinith. This might be interesting," Replied Balnaor, "Something tells me that someone aboard that vessel will prove to be rather entertaining."

"Or annoying." Countered the Ardat-Yakshi.

"Ahh… my good Morinith, what good is a victory without a few setbacks? Well, you haven't died yet, so you haven't learned what absolute ecstasy it can bring," Answered the chaos lord. "Tell me, have you ever heard the tale of Lucius the Eternal?"

Morinith replied with a confused look.

"Hmhmhm… Well it goes like this: Lucius was a master duelist in the Emperor's Children Legion who was defeated in single combat by another and in death, experienced such a high that Slaanesh him/herself took notice and had his killer slowly change into him, only with his face on a piece of the armor of Lucius's new body. Now whenever someone manages to defeat Lucius, if they feel so much a thing from it, they will find their body is now Lucius's and they themselves are now a screaming face on Lucius's armor." Told Balnaor.

"Exquisite." Replied Morinith, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"You'll see," stated the Chaos Lord, powering up his favorite lightning claws, "You'll see."

* * *

Nihlus was impressed, and in more ways than one. Foremost among them was the fact that the crew had remained so disciplined when even he was somewhat shaken by the sheer size of those ships.

Speaking of those ships there was something, off about them (aside from their size of course). A large number of them appeared to have cathedrals from Earth mounted on them (complete with gargoyles, some of which Nihlus could have sworn to see moving) and others had a fleshy something covering them (though what that something was was beyond his knowledge). But still none of these could explain the fact that the moment the turian saw them, something gave him the urge to (put in the most tasteful manner possible) BURN THOSE SHIPS OUT OF THE SKY WITH SACRED, CLEANSING, HOLY FIRE! or simply give up and be reduced to a gibbering animal. Nihlus didn't know where those thoughts came from, but almost thought the reaction was instinctive, despite the fact that neither he, nor his family/ancestors, nor anyone he had met had ever encountered these ships before or those behind them.

Entering the hangar bay, Nihlus overheard Anderson giving orders to the commander. One of the soldiers under Shepard's command, (Kaidan he thought it was) asked about survivors, to which Anderson replied that they were a secondary concern compared to the beacon.

Around that time, the hangar doors began to open and the pilot stated over the intercom "Approaching drop point one."

Noticing that Nihlus was about to leave, one the soldiers in Shepard's crew, Jenkins asked whether he was going with them. Not even giving the young soldier a second glance, Nihlus responded that he could move faster on his own before exiting the ship. This was perhaps he part where Anderson told the party that he was going to scout for them.

The first thing the turian noticed after exiting the Normandy was the distinctive smell of iron originating from human blood. Odd, since he couldn't see any corpses. Warily, he checked his surroundings and then he looked down. The grass was red.

THAT frightened Nihlus. He had never seen anything that could do that to a corpse and he didn't want to meet the thing that could.

Giving himself a second to reassert himself, Nihlus then proceeded to move out.

Around thirty seconds in, he met what appeared to be his first hostiles.

Moving against what appeared to be one of the last pockets of resistance was an unknown alien being that appeared to be some bizarre mix of human/assari, insect, and reptilian traits made without any regards to common logic or anatomy. Heck, each and every one of them, despite appearing to have originated from a common mold looked different enough from one another that they could have been a separate species, with some of them appearing to have mouths or crab claws on their arms while others had legs resembling that of an insect or a centaur. As they were hit by oncoming bullets (which they appeared extremely resistant to, despite lacking any form of apparent protection) they emitted melodious shrieks, almost as if they were in ecstasy.

By the time one of them eventually fell, Nihlus thought the creatures couldn't be any more out of this world. He once again saw how wrong he was.

The creature began to spontaneously combust with pinkish yellow flame as it fell to the ground, before exploding into an array of ridiculously gaudy colors.

A moment later, one of the fiends managed to get to the defenders. In a show of absolutely unnecessary cruelty, the demonic creature began to casually dissect the first soldier it got to almost seeming as if it were making sure the victim didn't die too quickly. This prompted the remaining men and women to open fire upon the creature, eventually causing it too to die and burst into flame.

Still the horde pushed on against the defenders. Deciding the weakened group would be unable to hold their own after that, Nihlus took aim at the nearest creature to the group with his modified HMWSR Master Sniper Rifle and fired, bringing down one of the creatures nearly instantaneously before moving on to the next one.

Noticing the new threat, one of the creatures changed its course and moved towards Nihlus, only for it to get a bullet in its brain and allowing the remaining solders to finish off the pack, for now.

Before moving away from the group he just saved, Nihlus decided it would be prudent to send a message to his possible protégé and his crew.

"This place got hit hard Commander. Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up."

* * *

Shepard took that warning to heart. Ignoring the harmless gas bags floating blissfully around Eden Prime, Shepard and co. moved down a relatively narrow path which opened up into one much wider going right, the perfect place for an ambush. Sensing this, Shepard looked around to his crew and saw that Jenkins would be the perfect fit, and ordered him to take point.

However, the moment Jenkins moved out into the open, he was torn apart by some unknown force that was not biotic in nature.

In response, both Thomas and Alenko prepped their weapons and took cover. Getting a quick peek out of cover before immediately going back into it, Shepard saw what appeared to be a Batarian armed with some weird gun that he was apparently trying to pound it into submission. However, there was something distinctly off about the alien though- Its complexion was oddly pale for a member of its species and there appeared to be weird markings covering its face. They would have time to investigate the abominable creature in detail once the member of the vile species was eating dirt.

Noticing the human soldier, the Batarian took aim at the area of the N7 and fired…

…Only to miss the soldier and the rock he was hiding behind entirely. Apparently hitting Jenkins was complete fluke. A fluke the bastard would quickly pay for.

Taking his chance, Shepard ordered Kaidan to use a biotic throw upon the vile Xenos while he opened fire at the same time. As it turned out and much to both men's shock, the four-eyed freak didn't possess shields, making the measure pure overkill.

Giving a brief look at each other before moving to their fallen comrade, Shepard closed Jenkins' dead eyes before taking a moment to briefly pray to himself. He then turned to Kaidan and said, "When we are done here, we will make sure to give him a proper burial. But for now, we will give him vengeance."

Preparing to move out, Shepard heard Nihlus over the radio. He said, "I've got some burned buildings here, Shepard. A lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out. I'll try to catch up with you at the dig site."

When he got to the trees, another batch of enemies made themselves apparent, this time a pair of assari with ashen skin and similar markings to the batarian bastard. Quickly firing off his Assault Rifle, Shepard managed to bring down the alien women with contemptuous ease. Thankfully, these assari did not appear to be of the race's famed commandos.

However, before he could get too far, he saw a woman running towards him strongly resembling the one in the transmission made when it became evident that the mission was about to get hairy. Coming after her was a creature that resembled a cross between a human woman/assari and a crab. Seeing as how the woman from the video might be the best bet the two had so far as to the source of this madness, Shepard ordered Kaidan to unleash a throw upon the pursuer.

This proved to be a wise move as the succubus creature slowed to a short stop upon being hit by the biotic attack. Furthermore the alien proved oddly resistant to gunfire, even appearing to take pleasure from suffering hits from it. The creature didn't even have a kinetic barrier! Finally just as it looked to be preparing to get up, it went down, spontaneously combusting into flames of a bizarre color and disappearing.

It was time to ask questions, and Shepard had a lot of them. Moving towards him, the woman they had saved quickly thanked him and said, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge sir?"

Taking a quick glance at the surrounding area, Shepard responded with a yes and said, "Are the any other survivors from the group you were with?"

"No." She responded looking down, "We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call when the attack hit but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since."

"So what do you think those things are?" asked Shepard, "I fought a batarian a pair of assari before getting to you, but they were positively weak compared to those I've fought before and had an odd look to them. They didn't even have shields. That thing chasing you on the other hand… I've never seen anything like that thing before."

"I have no idea," Responded Ashley, "The aliens you fought before, I think they are cultists. But the monster that was chasing me? Well I've taken to calling them demons."

"Demons? Righhhttt. Do you still leave a nightlight on when going to bed Ashley?" Asked Kaidan sarcastically, causing Shepard to hit him on the back of the head in response.

"Oww. Was that really necessary?"

"Yes." Shepard deadpanned. "Ashley, why do you think they are here though? The beacon?"

"Probably," responded Ashley. "The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might be there."

"Hmmm…" Shepard thought before asking, "Seeing as you have survived this long against those creatures, Williams you could help us quite a bit. Could you join us?"

In response, Ashley saluted towards Shepard and said, "It would be my honor."

"Then let's move out!" Said Shepard before the group charged up the hill.

* * *

Nihlus had the unique feeling of inadequacy that could only be felt by a walking arsenal armed and armored with the best prototypes the galaxy could provide.

Despite this, the strange creatures shrugged off enough rounds to bring down multiple Elcor in full battle armor. And that wasn't all. There were also cultists, (He believed they were of the Slaanesh offshoot) and they were armed with some of the most bizarre weapons he had ever seen, including what appeared to be a gun that fired sound waves (Thankfully the saps did not seem to have any degree of accuracy using the weapon). Furthermore, they apparently had the odd tendency to refuse to use kinetic barriers, when all but the poorest thugs had them throughout civilized space.

As the turian stalked the area, he had the distinct impression that he wasn't getting any closer to the dig site. Perhaps he should have asked the group he had helped if they knew where the beacon was or looked around for other survivors he thought to himself.

It was then he heard the distinct sound of marching. Deciding to investigate, Nihlus moved in the direction he thought the sound was coming from, sticking to the shadows to make sure he could not be found.

What he found however was an army.

Marching in formation, this column of troops was obviously where the various beings he fought to get here originated. Contained in it were the expected, batarians and assari, some of which were armed with the strange weapons of the same sort he encountered earlier, as well as several of the strange creatures he had fought elsewhere on this world. There were also tanks of unknown make rolling throughout the fields.

Those were the mundane forces.

Alongside those forces walked bipedal war machines, a concept often found in human fiction (Mechs or Mechas he thought they were called) and giants resembling humans with armor lifted straight from their medieval period and carrying upscaled versions of the sonic weapons used by the grunts. Nihlus for a few seconds thought that he was hallucinating after playing too many hours of the MMO "Galaxy of Fantasy".

Deciding that this was just important as, if not more important than the Beacon, Nihlus decided to call Shepard in order to inform him of his new objective.

"Commander Shepard, this is Nihlus. Change of plans. I have found what appears to be a full blown army en route to what appears to be the colony's space port. I'm going to check it out."

Much to Nihlus' surprise, Commander Shepard answered back. "Nihlus, this is Commander Thomas Shepard. We have reached the dig site. Beacon is not present. Permission to rendezvous?"

"Permission granted."

At that very moment, Nihlus thought he saw one of those armored knights look at him for a few seconds.

* * *

To Balnaor's finely tuned Astartes senses which were further enhanced by his pact with Slaanesh, the turian sneaking around and spying on his forces was as bright as day. His personal guess was that the being was a Spectre, one of the elite forces of the citadel council, the main governing body of the galaxy.

He had the feeling that he would be the source of much entertainment. Too much to be worth killing him in some anticlimactic manner

He would not however, likely be the main source of it.

Balnaor's sorcerers had alerted him to some sort of "presence" entering the system, likely emitted from the same ship that brought the Turian here. He did not however think that the Turian was the source of it.

A few seconds ago, he had overheard the turian speaking over his vox channels to a person called Thomas Shepard. Perhaps he was the source of the "presence" his sorcerers had alluded him to.

"Balnaor, is there anything wrong?" Asked one of his soldiers.

"No."

***Codex entry: Galaxy of Fantasy***

Galaxy of Fantasy is a popular MMORPG produced by the entertainment company Sandstorm. Allowing players to play as one of 11 races (Assari, Turians, Salarians, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Batarians, Krogan, Vorcha, Drell, and Quarians, with Volus as a promised race in the next expansion) and 8 classes (Warriors [melee oriented], Soldiers [range oriented], Mages [jack-of-all trades caster], Thieves [stealth oriented], Champions [jack of all trades], Warlocks [offensive caster], Summoners [caster specialized in summoning], and priests [supporting caster]), Galaxy of Fantasy offers one of the most expansive player bases of modern MMOs. Taking place in the distant galaxy of Trimotier, gamers are immersed in a world based on the various mythologies of the galaxy.


	4. Eden Prime: Part 2

Sadly, I own neither Warhammer 40k, nor Mass Effect. They belong to Games Workshop, and Bioware, respectively.

* * *

The moment Shepard and the group reached the top of the hill, they knew how good of a site it was for an ambush on them. In light of this, they warily looked around searching for possible foes. They found nothing, thought Shepard still felt it in is bones that some malevolent presence was watching him and his group. If there was to be an ambusher, it was likely they would wait until they thought that the soldiers had lowered their guard.

Hoping to lure in those he thought was watching him, Shepard ordered his crew to investigate the two PHU (Portable Habitation Units) in the area. It worked like a charm.

Jumping out of its hiding place was another one of those weird alien women similar to those they had found chasing Ashley. Opening fire upon it and moving away just in time for the group to emerge unscathed, the creature literally tore through the PHU like it was tin foil.

It was in those few split seconds that Shepard truly began to appreciate what sort of creature the alien was and how appropriate the moniker of "Demon" Ashley gave to them was. If the Assari were the galaxy's fan service, then these were the temptresses. Half male, half female and eyes the blackest night, it was the embodiment of perfect beauty, and perfect repulsiveness at the same time.

Remembering the previous encounter with the creature chasing Ashley and how durable it was, Shepard threw a grenade at it hoping to either kill it, greatly weaken it, or failing either, simply distract it long enough for the group to pump it full of lead.

Sadly it did none of those. Noticing Shepard's motion while tearing through the unit, the creature pulled its claw out of the unit and jumped away from the grenade.

From there, the creature began to move to what it perceived to be the greatest threat, namely Shepard and Ashley. Thankfully, it was moving in the opposite direction form Kaidan, whom showed the creature its mistake via a biotic throw, hurling it several meters behind his teammates, allowing them to finish it off.

Taking a few seconds to breath, the group noticed what they thought to be movement coming from the PHU. Noticing it was locked, Shepard decided that more than likely it was because someone was hiding behind those doors. Someone they could ask to help make some sense of the situation.

Making their way there, the first thing they noticed was that the door was locked. Deciding that it wouldn't be all that good if he let that deter him, he immediately got to work on getting through the door, namely through the overly tedious process of hacking it and yelling out a few choice words in frustration (which for the sake of this story's readers will not be elaborated upon). Ultimately, the hack was successful and the door opened up to reveal a pair of scientists, who naturally freaked out.

Correction, one of them freaked out, the other one looked off the wall to begin with. Looking both ways, just in case of a second ambush, Shepard moved to greet and attempt to calm down the two researchers.

"I'm Commander Thomas Shepard of the Alliance Navy. We have dealt with the nearby threats. You're safe, for now."

"No! We're not safe! And we never will be again!" Countered the male scientist. "HAHAHAHA! Chaos has come! And Order comes to hammer it down! Look around you and what do you see? Agents of the destroyers! The age of man has ended!"

The team looked at each other in confusion before what appeared to be the more sane researcher moved to answer.

"Thank you for coming here. I'm Dr. Warren. Sorry about my college, Dr. Manuel. He's a little unstable."

"No! My voice must be heard! They Are Coming!"

Shepard scratched his head and looked at his teammates, whom appeared to be as bewildered as himself. Then, after a few seconds he asked, "I have a few questions I would like to ask. Mind if you answer them?"

"No, I don't mind. Ask away," Responded Warren.

"What do you know about those weird creatures and the cultists with them?" asked Shepard.

"Nothing, they just came out of nowhere, and attacked," answered the scientist.

"You don't get it do you? THE GODS ARE HERE! Order will meet true Chaos and all will be consumed! Just as IT predicted!" said Manuel, drawing attention to himself again.

"I assume the 'IT' he was talking about was the beacon. Tell me more about it," stated Shepard.

"We moved it to the spaceport this morning," Answered the doctor, "It's some sort of data module for a galaxy wide communications network. It also has been remarkably well preserved. It could be the greatest discovery of our lifetime. New, stronger alloys; Medical advances; perhaps a way to replicate the Mass Relays. Who knows what could be inside it."

"We have unleashed the heart of Evil! Brought forth the agents of doom! No good will come of this!" Ranted Manuel.

Looking at the kook, Shepard asked Dr. Warren "So what's with your assistant?"

"I'm sorry about him. Manuel has a brilliant mind, but has always been a bit unstable. Genius and insanity are two sides of the same coin," Stated Warren.

"Is it insanity to see the future? To know that all you have known and cared for is predestined to ruin!? No, I AM THE ONLY SANE ONE LEFT!" Cried out Manuel.

Looking down for a few seconds before looking up, Shepard moved towards the crazy scientist with one of his hands curled up into a fist and said, "Manuel, time to say good night."

"You cannot silence the truth-" Manuel said before promptly getting knocked out by Shepard's fist making contact with his face.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Warren yelled out in outrage at Shepard. "You can't just go punching people out because you can."

"I agree," stated Ashley, "Wasn't that rather extreme?"

Wiping his hands off a bit Shepard looked towards Manuel and then towards Warren and said "In that state, he was a danger and would likely have gotten himself or somebody else hurt or killed."

"I guess" replied Warren "For now I'll just give him his meds."

"Ok then. Ashley, get us to the spaceport," Stated Shepard as they walked out.

* * *

As Nihlus hid and watched the movement of his foe from behind the scope of his rifle, he heard the sound of footsteps coming in behind him. Almost thinking that it was an ambush, Nihlus saw Shepard and his group, albeit with one member replaced by another strongly resembling the woman in the distress call.

"Ah, Commander, you're here," said Nihlus, "So is Jenkins…"

"Dead." Replied Shepard, "Torn apart by one of those sonic guns. Never stood a chance. Also, meet Ashley Williams."

"Williams hmm," Nihlus said, "If I recall, General Williams lead the defense of Shanxi during the Relay 314 incident, also known as the First Contact War to you humans.

"He was my Grandfather," Stated Ashley defensively.

"Interesting." Replied Nihlus, "Your grandfather, from what I've heard was vilified by his people because he surrendered to protect his men. In contrast, my people, the Turians, admire him for knowing when to quit."

Ashley seemed to react to the compliment almost like it was some serious insult and opened her mouth to say something before closing it.

Turning away, Nihlus took out his sniper rifle, activated his omni-tool, and said, "Shepard, Take out your sniper rifle. You should see this.

Following Nihlus' suggestion, Shepard peered through the lens of his riffle. What he saw almost literally blew his mind. Standing among the circus of an army were walking tanks, giants clad medieval armor, and quite a few things he did not know how to describe.

"Nihlus. Are you seeing this?" Asked Shepard.

"I asked myself the same question a when I first saw this a few minutes ago." Replied Nihlus. "Since then, I have synced my omni-tool to record what my sniper rifle reveals to me for evidence both for myself and for the council."

Just then, Shepard saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned his scope to focus on it. It was a group of those oddly colored assari dragging what appeared to be a prisoner they had caught towards what appeared to be a magic circle with eight arrows coming out of the middle. In response, Shepard nudged Nihlus to get him to focus on what he was seeing.

When they finished dragging the woman to the center, one of the assari women changed somehow for a brief few moment (He assumed it was mind melding) and the prisoner collapsed.

"By the spirits!" Nihlus exclaimed, "Those are Ardat-Yakshi!"

"What's an Ardat-Yakshi?" Asked Kaidan.

"They are assari with a rare condition that kills those whom they mind meld with," Answered Nihlus, "Their species goes out of their way to keep them a secret- either by secluding them in a monastery or by killing them if they refuse to go there."

"That's horrible!" Exclaimed Ashley.

"Shh!" Said Shepard, Still looking through the scope of his rifle. "You'll give our position away! …Wait."

Just then, a pinkish flame lit up from the magic circle of the eight pointed star, engulfing the body of the dead prisoner. The flames rose higher and higher, until they were the height of one and a half men. Then they took the shape of a hominid before shrinking down and revealing one of strange succubus creatures they had fought earlier.

Shepard lowered his rifle and shook himself off a bit, trying to process what he just saw. He then turned to Nihlus and asked, "Did I just see that or am I hallucinating?"

Nihlus turned to Shepard for a few seconds before giving his response.

"No, Shepard, I am afraid you did just see that."

"What is it? What did you two just see?" asked Ashley worryingly.

"Those demons you called them, I don't know how, but I just saw one created through a human sacrifice." answered Shepard.

"You're kidding me," Said Kaidan before getting a good look at his two superiors' haunted faces. "Oh god, you're not kidding me."

"We have to stop this!" proclaimed Ashley.

"I wish we could. We should to stop their sacrifice of civilians, both for our own conscience and to keep them from creating more of those abominations. However, we need to prioritize, and the beacon is the primary priority, and I don't think we have what it would take to do both or even just save the civilians. Besides, if they came to this, one of humanity's most well defended planets with that level of overkill just for the beacon, then I don't want to know what will happen if they manage to get their hands on the device." Stated Shepard.

"Agreed," stated Nihlus, "But first we need to get to the beacon, and to get to the beacon we need a means to get there. As well armed as I am, I don't think I am ready to test out my mettle against that many foes at once. We need a distraction. Shepard?"

"I think I have an idea," Shepard said, moving towards the nearby PHU, "But first we have to make sure that there is no one inside that thing."

* * *

Serendun, Sorcerer of Slaanesh contemplated his current occupation in guarding the various prisoners and sacrifices to their dark lord of pleasure. He of course did not appreciate being left behind while his "master" and the assari whore with him left for their true objective. His daemonic familiar agreed with him, sorcerers like himself were not meant for grunt work such as this and all this stillness did not do well to please the prince of pleasure.

Still he had his kicks. Torturing prisoners like the Dark Eldar and turning them into daemons or other various horrors always gave him some enjoyment, however little it was. Doing it in front of their friends and family was especially delectable. Still, he had to be careful not to break them, that took all the fun out of it. He also had no control over the young males- they had been singled out for recruitment and brought aboard the ships for later use, along with several young girls. Though, he doubted they would have much use for them- humans in this galaxy were way too soft for his tastes.

Just then, the sound of a nearby explosion wrecked his train of thought.

"What was that!?" He bellowed both physically and psychically simultaneously with rage.

"M-my lord… someone g-got through… our lines a-and d-dropped off soldiers." Replied a cultist gibbering with fear.

"What!?" Exclaimed Serendun with livid surprise while psychically levitating the cultist threateningly in the air.

"B-Balnaor said to let them through." pleaded the cultist to no avail.

"Gwack!" said the sorcerer in rage as he proceeded to fling the unfortunate individual with all the force necessary to pulp the poor sap.

"Let this be a lesson to all you stupid, whimpering fools and whelps! Search the area! Find the intruders! Kill them! And make sure they suffer!"

* * *

"Always Unfair and Unbalanced, this is Chaos Daily News- your go to channel for all news worthy events at the turn of the 41st millennium. I'm Morbudus Fatius here from the warp. And now for a commercial."


End file.
